In Case You Were Wondering...

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Back during the run-up to the 2008 election, I had a recurring feature called Why You Should Never Ask A Rapper About Politricks, which features several examples of misinformed idiots trying to chime in on the candidacy of then-Senator Obama. The results were often disastrous, but since most of these folks were #TeamObama, people generally gave them a pass. Now, a rapper trying to put on for McCain, that was a problem on the other hand.

I suspect the Obama White House sees this particular strain of celebrity endorsement the same way. You can't be mad at rappers for occasionally saying ignorant sh*t in support of you, because the last thing you want is those same rappers against you. Unless said rapper is named Lupe Fiasco, cause nobody actually cares what he thinks anymore.

Jay-Z has used his connection to #TeamObama to elevate is already sizable stature in the rap game, peppering his verses with the occasional shout-out to Barack, which in a strange symbiotic manner gives the President, a guy who prolly thinks hip hop ended with Young MC some street cred. Of course, there's a downside to this association, because anything somewhat controversial that the Jigga Man and his wife do inevitably gets associated with the Obamas, cause hey, that's just how this whole racism thing works and whatnot. When Jay-Z and Beyonce took a trip to Cuba last week, many on the right who probably can't even spell Beyonce without the help of WikiPedia used this to slam the President. While it was eventually revealed that the trip was fully cleared by the Treasury Department, I assumed this story was over.

It seemed like White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was waiting for the question when he was asked Thursday about Jay-Z's newest rap, which focuses on his U.S. government-approved trip to Cuba with wife Beyonce last week.

In the rap, Jay-Z suggested their clearance came from the White House, when it actually came from the Treasury Department.

"I turned Havana into Atlanta… Boy from the 'hood, I got White House clearance. ..Obama said 'chill you gonna get me impeached.' (But) you don't need this – expletive – anyway. Chill with me on the beach," the lyrics stated.

In one of the most bizarre exchanges in the White House press briefing room, a reporter read the lyrics to Carney, asking about the White House approval. And Carney, without missing a beat, hit back.

"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," he said.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was nominated by President Barack Obama earlier year and subsequently confirmed by the Senate.

Pressed further on whether the president had a conversation with Jay-Z, Carney shot down the speculation.

"I am absolutely saying that the White House and the president on down had nothing to do with anybody's personal, anybody's travel to Cuba," he said. "That is something the Treasury handles."

After two members of Congress called for an investigation of the power couple's controversial trip and explanation of the type of travel license issued, the Treasury Department responded in a letter, giving more details about the licenses.

Here's the song. It's just 3 minutes of typical Hov boasting with some jibberish about selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets mixed in for good measure. Mannnn, "The Takeover" seems like it was eons ago.

Step your bars up, Corey S. Carter. This sh*t is garbage, sonnn.

There are no winners in this conference of douchebags. Jay-Z's (completely unnecessary!) hyperbolic boasting on wax gets taken out of context, dragging the White House into the news cycles for something completely unnecessary. The Republicans who complained about this nonsense look like culturally brain dead assholes who also happened to burn valuable Treasury Department resources to get an answer to a question nobody else was even asking. And oh yeah, a few GOP Party officials look like total morons for wasting valuable time on this.

Seriously, enough already. I'm not saying Obama needs to issue a fullblown Kanye West-level bus tossing of Jay-Z, but it might help us all.

At the very worst, it might actually inspire Jay-Z to write a diss track worthy or more than one listen.

Question: Why did Jay-Z feel the need to record this nonsense? Shouldn't he just be somewhere counting his money instead?

Back during the run-up to the 2008 election, I had a recurring feature called Why You Should Never Ask A Rapper About Politricks, which features several examples of misinformed idiots trying to chime in on the candidacy of then-Senator Obama. The results were often disastrous, but since most of these folks were #TeamObama, people generally gave them a pass. Now, a rapper trying to put on for McCain, that was a problem on the other hand.

I suspect the Obama White House sees this particular strain of celebrity endorsement the same way. You can't be mad at rappers for occasionally saying ignorant sh*t in support of you, because the last thing you want is those same rappers against you. Unless said rapper is named Lupe Fiasco, cause nobody actually cares what he thinks anymore.

Jay-Z has used his connection to #TeamObama to elevate is already sizable stature in the rap game, peppering his verses with the occasional shout-out to Barack, which in a strange symbiotic manner gives the President, a guy who prolly thinks hip hop ended with Young MC some street cred. Of course, there's a downside to this association, because anything somewhat controversial that the Jigga Man and his wife do inevitably gets associated with the Obamas, cause hey, that's just how this whole racism thing works and whatnot. When Jay-Z and Beyonce took a trip to Cuba last week, many on the right who probably can't even spell Beyonce without the help of WikiPedia used this to slam the President. While it was eventually revealed that the trip was fully cleared by the Treasury Department, I assumed this story was over.

It seemed like White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was waiting for the question when he was asked Thursday about Jay-Z's newest rap, which focuses on his U.S. government-approved trip to Cuba with wife Beyonce last week.

In the rap, Jay-Z suggested their clearance came from the White House, when it actually came from the Treasury Department.

"I turned Havana into Atlanta… Boy from the 'hood, I got White House clearance. ..Obama said 'chill you gonna get me impeached.' (But) you don't need this – expletive – anyway. Chill with me on the beach," the lyrics stated.

In one of the most bizarre exchanges in the White House press briefing room, a reporter read the lyrics to Carney, asking about the White House approval. And Carney, without missing a beat, hit back.

"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," he said.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was nominated by President Barack Obama earlier year and subsequently confirmed by the Senate.

Pressed further on whether the president had a conversation with Jay-Z, Carney shot down the speculation.

"I am absolutely saying that the White House and the president on down had nothing to do with anybody's personal, anybody's travel to Cuba," he said. "That is something the Treasury handles."

After two members of Congress called for an investigation of the power couple's controversial trip and explanation of the type of travel license issued, the Treasury Department responded in a letter, giving more details about the licenses.

Here's the song. It's just 3 minutes of typical Hov boasting with some jibberish about selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets mixed in for good measure. Mannnn, "The Takeover" seems like it was eons ago.

Step your bars up, Corey S. Carter. This sh*t is garbage, sonnn.

There are no winners in this conference of douchebags. Jay-Z's (completely unnecessary!) hyperbolic boasting on wax gets taken out of context, dragging the White House into the news cycles for something completely unnecessary. The Republicans who complained about this nonsense look like culturally brain dead assholes who also happened to burn valuable Treasury Department resources to get an answer to a question nobody else was even asking. And oh yeah, a few GOP Party officials look like total morons for wasting valuable time on this.

Seriously, enough already. I'm not saying Obama needs to issue a fullblown Kanye West-level bus tossing of Jay-Z, but it might help us all.

At the very worst, it might actually inspire Jay-Z to write a diss track worthy or more than one listen.

Question: Why did Jay-Z feel the need to record this nonsense? Shouldn't he just be somewhere counting his money instead?